Internet of Things, popularly known as IoT, is transforming the world. We are all connected through a massive network of smartphones, computers, RFID sensors, and more. From optimizing road traffic through adaptive traffic management to radical healthcare solutions with sensors-based vitals monitors, IoT is adding value in every domain including product development. Let’s take a look at some examples of how IoT Data is being leveraged by Product Development teams around the world.

PRODUCT FEEDBACK & IMPLEMENTATION

“Who should ultimately design the product? The customer, of course.” – Philip Kotler.
It was the 80s when the soda giant, Coca-Cola introduced the first “smart vending machines” that were connected to the Internet. Fast-forward to today; these machines are capable of accepting payments through mobile wallets, monitoring stocks, and offer a personalized user experience and loyalty rewards to the customers through “My Coke Rewards.”
Most importantly, Coca-Cola’s intelligent vending machines are helping the company to learn about their customers by providing critical information such as popular products and machines with the highest foot traffic. This information has been of great significance in the product development process for the company.
Google’s driverless automated cars run on predefined routes and collect the traffic and geographical information through a variety of nodes under the IoT system- GPS, sensors, cameras, and more. These cars upload the data on the cloud network so that other cars can learn from this information and improve their driving and timing in various traffic conditions.

INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS (IIOT)

The multi-billion-dollar aircraft maker Airbus is actively using IoT tools in its factories that allow workers to optimize several processes such as driving as many as 400,000 bolts with more than 1,100 kinds of tools.
Since traditionally airplane assembly lines have relied more on manpower than robot-power, Airbus is merging them both with IoT, thus speeding up manufacturing.
Another shining example of IoT-adopter is Siemens. Siemen’s Amberg plant serves as an excellent prototype of “smart factories”. It has attained a remarkable production quality of 99.99% by having machines and computer controlling 75% of the value chain on their own. Even though the factory has 1,150 employees, most of their work is done on computers.

SEAMLESS IMPROVEMENTS AND UPDATES

The Tesla Model S has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity along with a 3G connection that is paid by the company itself. However, the best of all is – it’s premium selection of technologically advanced cars have their own API, i.e. Tesla API.
In January of 2014, Tesla discovered that the wall chargers for its 29,222-some cars were vulnerable to overheating; it averted the disaster by delivering a simple software update and sending the owners new charging equipment. This saved them the hassle of going to the dealerships. Moreover, customers were free to choose the time for an update that required just 45 minutes in total. Tesla has improved customer experience several times since then through Over The Air (OTA) updates thus redefining product development post-launch.

IoT has emerged as a game-changing technology that taps into a variety of data metrics and helps in improving the production efficiency and post-launch usability of a product.